The present invention relates to egg-collection systems, for collecting eggs of laying hens or the like.
The conventional system for collecting eggs is to remove them from the cages manually, which is a long, unpleasant and time-consuming operation. Systems have been proposed for minimizing the manual operations required in collecting the eggs, but these known systems have not been entirely satisfactory. For example, one known system includes an enclosure formed with an inclined floor such that the eggs move by gravity onto a conveyor belt for collection. However, it has been found that many hens apparently are not comfortable on an inclined floor since they lay their eggs outside of the enclosure, which thereby increases, and not decreases, the manual operations required.